That’s how an employee at Fix & Feed Sulphur Springs Hardware greeted a reporter who was visiting the store about 80 miles east of Dallas on a hot July weekday. She marched to a back room of the 20,000-sq.-ft. hardware store to a door marked “Keep this door closed at all times,” and led the visitor inside.

To complement the baseball theme of its Grand Slam Power Challenge promotion at the National Hardware Show last month, Briggs & Stratton presented its catalog in the form of baseball cards. It featured a portrait of the product on the front, with stats and information on the back.

“We thought our customers might find them a bit more interesting and handy than a product catalog,” said Eric Loferski, director of marketing of Briggs & Stratton’s portable power and cleaning systems.

Builders FirstSource, the Dallas-based chain of lumberyards and component plants, reported sales of $162.8 million for its first fiscal quarter, a 1% increase from sales of $161.4 million in the same period a year ago. Net income for the quarter, which ended March 31, 2011, was $21.2 million, compared to a net loss of $31.4 million a year ago.